Robert Katende and Phiona Mutesi are in America to speak at the Women in the World Summit on April 5, 2013 and make several other appearances.   They will be utilizing the SOI Blog to share experiences and pictures of their time during this trip.  Check back often for new posts directly from Robert and Phiona!

You can learn more about the Women in the World Summit through this site.  The Summit will be live streamed through this website. Robert and Phiona will speak as part of the morning program block at 11:20 AM (the full Women in the World Summit Agenda can be found here).  Phiona has also been named one of the “Women In the World: 25 Under-25 Young Women to Watch” by Newsweek and The Daily Beast as part of the Women in the World Summit. Additionally, Phiona will be featured as the “Person of the Week” with the ABC Evening News on Friday, April 5.

The book, The Queen of Katwe A Story of Life, Chess, and One Extraordinary Girl’s Dream of Becoming a Grandmaster, written by Tim Crothers and published by Simon & Schuster tells the inspiring and true story of Phiona Mutesi, a teenage chess prodigy from the Katwe slum of Kampala, Uganda. A poor, dirty, desperate street girl, Phiona searched out the Sports Outreach ministry site in the Katwe slum in 2005 because she was hungry. In addition to a meal she discovered her passion, skill and love for the game of chess.

The chess program was started when SOI staff member Robert Katende noticed there were dozens of children sitting on the sidelines, uninterested in soccer. He wanted to find an alternative and inexpensive sport to build their confidence, so he chose chess. Two years later he found himself running a daily chess camp and mentoring program for kids in the slums of Kampala, Uganda.  To learn more about the SOI Chess Academy visit this page on our website.